Long Enough
by AmazonGold
Summary: Castle Break (by NTT Solmare) fanfic: A girl wakes up in a castle with no idea who she is or what she is doing there. She meets several people, some who seem to know who she is. Follow her as she tries to fill in the blanks and make a plan.


'_Everybody's… gone'_

On the outskirts of what was once the Fortuna Kingdom there lay an ancient castle surrounded by mist. The walls were covered with ivy and birds had built their nests into crevices in the high walls. What was once an impressive structure was now crumbling and decayed after many centuries of neglect. High in one of the towers, a young woman lay unconscious on the stone floor.

Her fingers began to twitch as she slowly woke up. _'Where… am I?'_ As she opened her eyes, she could see the dull grey of the sky through the fractured ceiling. She pushed herself up to sitting, her mind still foggy and unfocused, then her hand brushed against something cold. There was a sword lying on the ground next to her, the blade was silver and the hilt was covered with blue and gold accents.

'_What's with this sword? …Why is it here?'_ She thought to herself as she tried to pull the sword closer to her but it was a lot heavier than it looked. It was then she came to a terrifying realisation. _'I can't remember anything.'_ A chill spread throughout her body as she was overcome with the fear of knowing absolutely nothing about who she was, what she was doing here or what she'd been doing in her life up to this point.

Dizziness and panic were threatening to take over her mind when she heard a noise and she realised she wasn't alone in the room. She span around to see a blonde man lying on the ground behind her. He was dressed in full plate armour; it was gleaming even in the low light and it was covered with handcrafted embellishments. The man screwed up his face and made a noise of pain, and despite not knowing if he was friend or foe, the woman found herself creeping closer to him to see if he was alright.

"Are… are you okay?" She asked timidly. The man didn't answer her, she wondered if he was unconscious like she had been. She shuffled nearer and reached out her hand to feel his forehead when suddenly the man grabbed her wrist before she could touch him. She gasped in shock as sapphire blue eyes stared at her in suspicion.

"Who are you?" He questioned her, still holding on to her wrist. "Are you my enemy?" His eyes piercing into her soul.

"I… don't know." She replied softly, finding herself unable to lie in the face of his intense gaze.

"You don't know? What do you mean you don't know?" The man's grasp on her wrist loosened even though he sounded disbelieving and confused.

"I'm the same as you. I woke up here as well. Even I can't believe it..." She elaborated in response. "…But I haven't been able to remember a single thing since I've woken up. So, I don't know whether or not we're enemies." The blonde man half snorted/half laughed in disbelief at her explanation.

"That's ridiculous." He shot back but the brunette woman just held his gaze, it was the truth but even she knew how outlandish it sounded. The man let go of her wrist and sat up, keeping his eyes on her. Then he frowned before saying, "…Looks like I'm out of luck. It appears that I cannot remember anything either."

"What?" _'What the hell is going on here?' _She thought as she watched the same mix of confusion and fear that she had felt playing out over the man's face. Though she did feel a little relieved that there was someone who was in the same situation as her. "It looks like we're in this mess together."

Despite her hopeful words she looked down at the flagstones she was sitting on as she tried to think of what to do, but no ground breaking ideas were coming to mind.

"Don't make such a tragic face." The man said to her. "Is grieving going to solve your problems? You have to look for the answer, not wait for it to come to you." His tone was cold and his words were harsh but she realised he was right. She couldn't give herself up to despair, she had to try and work out what was going on.

"You're right… thank you." The man had stood up and offered her his hand and she took it, he pulled her to her feet before saying.

"It's not all bad, at least I remember my name. I'm Lancelot."

"I'm… Fiona." She responded as she retrieved that one piece of information from her fractured mind. "Yes, my name is Fiona." Lancelot smiled at her with a nod before turning back to the matter at hand.

"We should have a look around, there might be some clue as to what we're both doing here. Or something we could use." The knight told her as he turned to look around. Fiona moved to do the same when she heard the sound of a chain moving. She looked down and saw she was wearing a necklace with an oval pendant. The pendant appeared to be glass, it was as black as the dead of night and covered in fine cracks.

"The only thing I noticed when I woke up was the sword next to me and I've just realised I'm wearing a broken necklace." Fiona told him as she tried to take it off, there was a crackling sound and a small spark flew out and singed her fingers. "Ouch! What the hell? I can't take this thing off!"

"Really? Here, let me see." Lancelot sounded puzzled as he reached for the pendant and tried to lift it off. It crackled again and more sparks flew out and Fiona winced in pain. The man dropped her necklace in a hurry. "Oh, I'm sorry! Did it hurt you?"

"No, it's okay. Just looks like this is another mystery we'll need to solve." Fiona shook her head and Lancelot finally spotted the sword lying on the floor. He walked over and picked it up like it weighed nothing at all. "Is that your sword?"

"Yes, no doubt about it. It feels so natural in my hand that it might as well be an extension of my own arm." Lancelot slid the sword into his scabbard and it fitted perfectly. He walked over to the window and looked out. "This looks like some sort of castle… Well, we aren't going to get anywhere by just standing around. Are you coming?"

"Yes, I'll try not to get in your way." Fiona answered with a nod. She had found Lancelot intimidating to start with but she was quickly realising that he had a noble and considerate side. The pair were just getting ready to leave the room when another man walked in. He had emerald green hair and was wearing leather shoulder armour over the robes of a magic user. His gentle expression froze in surprise when he saw Lancelot.

"Do you work here? I have some things I need to ask you?" Lancelot gave the man a friendly smile as he spoke to him. The newcomer just stared at him in silence and the knight's smile dropped and he began to reach for his sword. "Just who are you?"

The green haired man reached out with both hands and a red magical orb surrounded by bronze rings appeared between his palms and another appeared at his shoulder. His lips moved as if he was muttering something. Lancelot realised he was trying to cast a spell and rushed at him but it was too late. There was a blinding flash of light, forcing the pair of them to close their eyes and Fiona felt someone grab her hand and pull her along with them.

The woman didn't know whose hand it was but she felt a strange sense of nostalgia deep inside her heart. When her eyes finally readjusted, she realised it was the green haired man who had taken her by the hand. Fiona was out of breath from running away from the room.

"Wait! Stop!" She called to the mage and he stopped obediently, he tilted his head and looked at her in confusion. "Why did you leave Lancelot behind? Just who are you? Do you know who I am?" The man's eyes widened in shock, he held his throat and tried to speak with all his might but he couldn't even let out a groan. He then grew visibly frustrated and tried to convey his thoughts with gestures.

"It's okay…" Fiona touched his arm gently. "You can't talk, can you?" The green haired man nodded and pulled on her sleeve; his hazelnut coloured eyes were filled with anxiety. _'He's worried about me.'_ She could tell that much, even without words.

"Thank you for your concern. I'm really happy to know that you care." When Fiona told him that, the man's face lit up into a blinding smile and she couldn't help smiling back. "What's your name?" But at that moment there was a strange sound, and with a puff of smoke, a small woman dressed in a black and purple corset dress appeared. She looked as cute as a porcelain doll but she was wearing metal armour on her shoulders and legs.

"Roy! I've been looking everywhere for you!" She shot out in irritation at the green haired man. _'So, his name is Roy then?'_ "There's still a lot going on, so keep a hold of Fiona for a little longer. Got it?" At hearing her own name, Fiona realised she might have found someone who could tell her who she was and what was going on. But before she could even open her mouth, the smaller woman let out a small shriek.

"Ah! Lord Astaroth is calling for me. I guess he just can't stand being away from me for even a moment! Okay! I'm on my way!" She grinned happily with pink cheeks. "Alright! I'm counting on you, Roy!" Before disappearing in a puff of smoke once more.

"Damnit! I wanted to ask her some questions." Fiona let out a sigh of frustration. "I have no idea what's going on… but at least I know your name is Roy now." The mage smiled and squeezed her hand in confirmation. _'I might be able to get some information if I keep my questions to Yes or No ones.'_

But just as she was thinking that, there was some shuffling sounds from the shadows and some humanoid figures approached them. They had green skin and gaunt bodies and they moved in a mindless manner. Fiona instinctively took a step backwards, nothing about these creatures seemed friendly in the slightest.

Roy stepped out in front of Fiona and extended his hands outwards like he had done before, the orbs appearing and beginning to glow with light. The monsters started to shrink away from the light but the magic orbs suddenly went dim. Roy gasped in shock and withdrew his hands, looking troubled.

"Roy? What's happened? What's wrong?" Fiona asked him in worry. The mage pointed in the opposite direction from the creatures and gave her a little push. "Run away? Well, let's go then!"

Roy shook his head and gave her a friendly smile, turning his gaze back to the beasts that had resumed shambling towards the pair of them. _'I don't want to leave him behind… but I'll probably just get in his way!'_ Fiona bit her lip hard.

"You better not get yourself killed!" She ordered him, then at seeing him nod, the woman started to run in the other direction. She didn't know how long she ran for before she stopped to catch her breath, she looked behind her but she couldn't see any sign of Roy coming to follow her. There was nothing but silent corridors as far as she could see.

Fiona debated going back but she decided to trust that Roy would catch up with her, so she started walking again, keeping an eye out for any more of those creatures. She hadn't been walking long before she heard a low rumbling sound from up ahead. When she looked, she saw a massive man made of stone walking towards her.

With a gasp of shock, Fiona turned on her heels to run in the other direction but somehow there was another walking boulder coming towards her from that way too. She froze in place as her heart thumped with fear.

"I… I don't want to die!" Fiona cried out in panic as she watched the two golems steadily approaching her. The pair of them had glowing glyphs on their foreheads and there was even vegetation growing from between the stones that made up their massive bodies.

"Haha. Looks like you're having a rough time. Fiona, need some help?" An amused and arrogant voice came from somewhere above her and the woman looked up in surprise. There was a man with long burgundy red hair and a monocle floating above her head. His body was translucent and she could see right through him.

"What… what are you?" Fiona asked as she shrank away from the strange apparition while keeping half an eye on the approaching monsters.

"Haha! What are you getting so surprised about now?" The man just laughed and drifted after her, he was dressed in very fine clothing that wouldn't look amiss on an aristocrat. "As you know, I am The Amazing Jordan, presently kicking it as a ghost."

"Jordan… Wait, ghost? You're dead?" Fiona asked in bewilderment. "I'm sorry, you seem to know me but I've lost my memories so I can't remember who I am, never mind who you are." Jordan blinked at her in astonishment. But he regained his composure quickly and snickered to himself.

"Oh, I get it now! That's hilarious!" The ghost grinned at her, making Fiona annoyed.

"It's not funny! Anyway, we have to run away!" She exclaimed anxiously; the golems were nearly on top of them. The red head looked at her in contemplation for a moment.

"Hmm… Yeah, whatever. Come on. Follow Me." He finally said. Without having any better ideas, Fiona did as she was told. Jordan glided across the passageway and out the window, the woman followed him and saw there was a small balcony one floor down. She gulped to herself before steeling her nerve and jumped out of the window, careful not to catch her long skirt on the frame as she did so.

Fiona landed on the balcony and entered the room to find Jordan waiting for her. The room looked like no one had been in it for ages. There was moss growing all over the stone floors, cracks in the walls and the small wooden table was rotting away to nothing.

"We should be safe enough for now." The ghost said as he hovered in front of her. Fiona gave him a warm smile and thanked him sincerely. Jordan gave her a happy grin. "You're welcome! So, what happened? Do you really not remember who I am?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I woke up on the floor only knowing my own name. But I can guess that you knew me before I lost my memories?" Fiona prompted him, sounding hopeful.

"Yeah, I know you very well." Jordan answered with an enigmatic and slightly unsettling smile. "I know all of your dirty little secrets." Fiona got the feeling he must be teasing her and found herself getting irritated.

"This isn't the time to be fooling around!" She gave him an angry glare but the ghost just smiled back at her. But again, his smile made Fiona feel uneasy for some reason.

"Alright, fine. The lock on the door to this room is broken, so the monsters can just come in here whenever they want. We should probably move to a room with a lock before it gets dark. The monsters are more active at night." Jordan informed the woman.

"You mean the monsters we just saw?" Fiona shuddered at the memory.

"Yeah, the things made of stone are golems and the undead green creatures are ghouls." The red head nodded at her. "Ghouls are weak against light and golems are weak against water. This is the bare minimum you need to know to protect yourself, so you better not forget. Also, when you lock a door, it becomes shielded by a protect spell so you'll be safe for one night." _'He sure is telling me a lot of useful things, I have no reason to distrust him but, still…'_

"Ok, thanks for that, Jordan. You're right, we should find a room with a lock." Fiona said and the two of them left the room. The pair of them walked in silence, it was a little weird only hearing one set of footsteps even though Jordan was right in front of her, leading the way. The passageway he was taking her down was becoming darker and darker, and sure enough, it wasn't long before she spotted a large group of ghouls up ahead.

"Wait, Jordan! Don't tell me you plan on running through those ghouls?" Fiona's voice was full of fear and anxiety.

"Don't worry about it… Oh yeah, I forgot… You're a living human with a living body, aren't you?" His 'oh what an idiot I am' voice was fooling no one.

"Of course I am! Ugh, let's just get out of here!" Fiona growled in irritation as she made a motion to grab Jordan's hand but her own went right through him. The ghost just laughed at her, it was an empty laugh, devoid of all emotion that made her back away in fear. The woman turned and ran away from both him and the ghouls.

"Wow! It must be tough being alive and all!" But Jordan followed after her, taunting her and laughing with glee. Fiona ignored him but she soon realised that she was heading straight for a dead end. She ran over to the window to see if there was anywhere to jump to like last time. But there was no balcony below. As she looked back at the group of ghouls, Fiona decided to try and use the uneven brick work to climb down to the floor below.

Just as she was climbing out the window, she heard a whispering of the wind getting louder. She clung on to the frame but it was already too late, the wind caught her and she lost her grip and fell with a shout of alarm.

"Fiona!" Jordan's shocked and panicked face looked down at her as he cried out her name. She almost didn't hear him as the source of the sudden wind swept by her, almost colliding with her falling body. A dark haired man with pale skin, marked with red lines over the left side of his face flew by.

"Astaroth! The promised time has come!" He shouted, he was wearing black and purple spiked armour with a long cape. "The time has come where I kill you and become the ruler of the Underworld! This is destiny!" He was so focused on his single minded goal that he didn't even notice the falling woman.

Without having any way to defy gravity herself, Fiona continued to plummet towards the ground at bone shattering speed. She closed her eyes in fear when all of a sudden, she stopped mid-fall. When Fiona opened her eyes, she could see several small black forms underneath her, supporting her from below.

"Haa… That was close." At hearing Jordan's voice, she looked up and saw him descending towards her breathing a sigh of relief. "These are Shadows, spirits that eat shadows. They are harmless, don't worry." He explained. The Shadows carried Fiona safely down to an internal courtyard that had grass, trees and even a small pond with a bridge.

"Thank you. You guys saved my life." Fiona thanked the Shadows and the small formless creatures wiggled and jumped up and down cutely at receiving her praise. "But who was that guy who flew by? He was shouting about the Underworld or something?"

"Oh, that's probably a demon." Jordan answered her question but at seeing her confused look, he added. "What? You forgot that too? Oh well, things are getting pretty interesting. It would be a waste to kill a certain someone right now." The ghost disappeared, along with the Shadows before Fiona could say anything more to him. She waited for a while in case the red head came back, but she decided she had to move on, it was getting dark and she needed to find a room with a lock.

Fiona could see another tower from the confines of the courtyard. _'I can't put my finger on it, but there's *something* about that tower.'_ She thought to herself before heading that way in the hopes of triggering some of her forgotten memories. The woman walked through the gardens until she reached the base of the imposing building. She began to search the corridors and a luxurious leather-bound door caught her attention.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Fiona pushed the door to find it unlocked and it creaked as it opened out on to a room with opulent furnishings. To her surprise, she saw a dark skinned man with white hair standing in the middle of the room. He was wearing black and blue armour, similar to the other man, and he had a black and red sword hanging from his belt.

He was standing in the middle of an intricate magic circle with his eyes closed, seemingly in the middle of some sort of complex spell. As soon as Fiona set eyes on him, she felt a deep well of emotion stir inside of her, too dense and overwhelming for her to decipher as she froze in place.

"What are you doing? Get out of here." The man finally opened his eyes and commanded her. Fiona felt an alarm of warning going off in her body. She didn't remember anything concrete but it seemed from her senses that this man was extremely dangerous, it was something engraved deep into her bones. Suddenly, there was the sound of an explosion from somewhere, far enough away not to feel the tremors but close enough to be in the castle.

"Lord Astaroth! Ronove has destroyed part of the east wing!" The small woman in a corset appeared from nowhere and spoke to the man in the circle.

"It appears that the filthy rat is causing a stir again." The man called Astaroth gave a sigh before he looked over to Fiona and gave her a small smile. "What happened to Roy? Why isn't he with you? Levi, did you not just tell me that you gave Roy the orders to stay with her?"

"I… I did give him the orders! I'll go look for him!" Levi tried to explain herself in a panic when Astaroth turned his gaze to her again, disappearing in another puff of smoke.

"Alright, Fiona. Roy will be here shortly, so just sit still and wait." The white haired man addressed her before continuing to himself. "Should I kill the rats or should I fix the force field first? …Let's take care of the rats." Once he'd made his decision, he disappeared into thin air too.

Left all alone in the room, Fiona stood there stunned. At least the oppressive aura of Astaroth had lifted when he left. _'What should I do? He told me to stay here, but should I do what he says?'_ The woman fretted as she thought to herself.

"Oh, look at what we have here. What's wrong?" Fiona jumped in fright at the sudden voice. When she looked in the direction it came from, she saw a man with carrot orange hair wearing light and dark blue robes. He carried a large book with an ornate green cover under one arm and wore several gold and lilac coloured accessories.

"Who are you?" Fiona asked him as the man walked towards her, looking curious. She noticed he had a small black beauty mark under his left eye as he gave her a bright smile.

"I'm the Grand Mage Noah! I'm really famous, so I'm sure you've heard of me!" Noah declared in a proud voice.

"I'm sorry, I've never heard of you." Fiona told him with a sad little smile, already a little sick of explaining to everyone that she'd lost her memories. The mage's face dropped in shock at her answer.

"What! It seems that there's still a lot you need to learn!" He declared. The woman didn't know what to say to him so she just kept quiet. Noah lent towards her, staring intently at her face. "Oh? You lost your memories? Well then, I guess you can be forgiven!"

"Wait… You can tell even though I haven't said anything?" Fiona asked in shock, wondering if he was able to read her mind.

"Of course! I am a Grand Mage after all!" There was something about the way Noah spoke, his voice was so bright and melodic that it almost sounded like he was singing. The mage looked around the room with interest, and Fiona couldn't help thinking his cheerful personality was the complete opposite of Astaroth's. She found the anxiety she'd been feeling slowly evaporating. "And now you're wondering what you should be doing to get out of here, right?" Noah turned his attention back to her with a smile.

"Yeah, exactly. I'm also worried about a few people I met before." Fiona was a little unnerved by the way this man seemed to know exactly what she was thinking about but she didn't feel a shred of hostility from him.

"Hmm, I see." Noah opened up his manuscript and put his hand down on top of a page and closed his eyes in concentration for a moment. "According to my favourite book in the entire world, if we can just borrow someone's powers, we can get you out of here!" He smiled at her; his carnelian eyes had a mischievous sparkle to them.

"Someone's powers?" Fiona repeated, sounding unsure. She couldn't help glancing around nervously, afraid that Astaroth might come back soon.

"Yep! Though you can't trust just anybody. Let's let the cards decide!" Noah declared as he took a deck of tarot cards out of his pocket, the design on the back of them matched the cover of Noah's book. He shuffled the cards while mumbling something to himself. He drew the top card and placed it face down in front of him where it stayed suspended in mid-air while he dealt out more cards in a grid the same way.

"I'm pretty confident with my fortune telling. I'm sure that I will be able to find out who you should trust. Alright, pick one." Fiona decided to do as he asked and she looked at the cards in front of her before selecting the one that she felt most drawn to.

"This one, please." She pointed to the card she selected and Noah collected up the other floating cards and returned them to his deck.

"Alright, I'll send you to the person who can help you with a teleportation spell." He took the selected card and placed it on a page in his ancient text, beginning to mumble another chant. "Now off you go. Your destiny is now in your hands. Believe in yourself and do your best to unravel the mysteries that await! Good luck!" Noah gave her a beaming grin as the room filled with white light.

* * *

When the light cleared, Fiona found herself in a room filled with bookshelves, the smell of dust and aging books all around her. She frowned as she looked around the library, she seemed to be entirely on her own. _'I thought Noah was sending me to a person I could trust to help get me out of here?'_ Fiona thought to herself as she walked around cautiously, there were lots of places in and around the bookcases where a person or monster could be hiding.

When she turned one corner, she came across a mirror and saw her own face staring back at her. _'I guess that means I should rely on myself rather than anyone else?'_ At seeing how low the light levels were outside the window, Fiona headed for the door to the library and locked it to make sure no monsters could get in. There was a small lantern on a table near the door, it had some sort of luminescent crystal inside, so she picked it up to use for the light.

"I guess the answers as to what I need to do are in here… somewhere." Fiona muttered, trying not to become intimidated by the massive number of books in this room. She held her lantern high and walked over to the nearest shelf. As she was looking, the title of one book caught her eye. 'History of the Kingdom of Fortuna'.

"Hsss…" Fiona felt a sudden stabbing pain in her head and she hissed out loud, shutting her eyes against it. But once it had past, she realised she'd remembered something. _'That's right, I'm from the Kingdom of Fortuna. That's where I was born.'_ She pulled the book out, about to find a seat somewhere to read it when she caught sight of movement in her peripheral vision.

Fiona looked over and there was a Shadow hovering in front of the next bookcase, wiggling and jumping to get her attention. Intrigued, she approached the Shadow and looked at the books. The spirit seemed to be pointing to a book titled 'Ancient Magical Artefacts' so she obediently pulled it off the shelf.

"Thanks, little guy!" Fiona told him, petting the top of his head, getting a delighted squeaking in return. The woman found a large chair with a small round table next to it, she placed the lantern on the table as she sat down. The chair was big enough for her to curl up with her legs underneath her, she decided to start with the book on the history of Fortuna Kingdom first. She put the magical artefacts book down on the table before starting to skim read the contents.

The book started by covering the founding of the kingdom, but not knowing what year it currently was made it hard to appreciate whether these were ancient or recent events. From what the book said the Fortuna Royal Family were kind and compassionate to their citizens, doing everything they could to prevent invasions from other more aggressive nations. Fiona came to an illustration of the family tree of the monarchy, and as she looked down it, the name on the very last branch caught her attention.

"Princess Fiona Fortuna…" She whispered, a sudden chill going down her back and she broke out in a cold sweat. She began flicking forward through the pages, looking for a portrait of the last princess. The feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach was justified when she finally came across a picture of the young princess with her mother and father. It was undoubtably her, the resemblance was uncanny, the same light brown hair, the same face and the same turquoise eyes.

Looking at the family picture, Fiona suddenly doubled over in pain as her head felt like it was being split in two. She screwed up her face and covered her eyes with her hands as memories flooded her mind, flashing through at an incredible speed. Her mother and father, her people, her kingdom, she remembered it all. Tears streamed down her face as a sob of anguish escaped her lips. _'Everybody's gone… I'm all alone.'_

Fiona curled herself into a ball on the chair as she wept, the book falling off her lap to the floor. This was her castle; she grew up inside these walls with her family and all their attendants and servants. It was a happy childhood, peaceful even. But one day, not long after she'd come of age, a man appeared before her while she was walking through the grounds outside the castle. _'No, not a man… a demon.'_ Astaroth, the Azure Demon and King of the Underworld. He told her that the Kingdom of Fortuna was in his way and he was going to destroy it.

But the princess had refused to cower in front of him, even going so far as to berate the demon for destroying innocent lives. Astaroth seemed to find her responses amusing, admiring her strong spirit and she sparked his interest. Suddenly he forced a kiss on the stunned woman before declaring.

"This is a contract between us. From now on, you are mine." Before he disappeared from sight. However, the next day Astaroth began razing the country to the ground, villages and cities burned, no one even stood a chance. All of Fortuna's soldiers fell before him, he swatted them aside with ease, like they were nothing but flies before absorbing their life energy to make himself stronger.

Once the entire kingdom was in flames, the demon came to the castle to claim his prize. He killed everyone… everyone except her. Astaroth and his minion, Levi, had then taken up residence in her home, filling the halls with ghouls and golems to make quick work of any curious invaders. Fiona had been kept captive in this castle since that very day. The Azure Demon was able to create pockets of frozen time, so despite the fact her kingdom fell over a thousand years ago, she hadn't aged a day. He'd also erected a magical barrier around the castle to keep her in and intruders out.

Fiona had lost count of the number of times she'd tried to escape in the beginning; all attempts had ended in failure. Astaroth had tried everything to keep her content, he lavished her in gifts and offered her life as an immortal being by his side forever. But he would never grant her the one thing she desired more than anything else in the world.

"Give it all back! Give me my family and everyone in the castle back! Put everything back like it was, I'm begging you!" Fiona had demanded that of Astaroth on every occasion she could. Eventually the demon had made her a protector and companion in an effort to console her and ease her shattered heart. It was the princess herself who had given him a name, Roy, and he had become a dear friend and confidante to her.

Roy was a demon, technically speaking, but he gained power by just being near to humans rather than having to absorb energy from them. Whenever he was separated from Fiona for any length of time, his magical power decreased and he lost the ability to speak in full sentences, and sometimes even at all. Though it didn't take overly long for his speech to come back once they were reunited.

Being a created being, Roy had had no previous existence, no memories, attachments or personality. But as Fiona shared her favourite books with him, played the piano for him and told him about her former kingdom and the life that she'd led, the lesser demon eventually became a gentle soul, utterly devoted to his mistress. It was Roy who held her when she cried often for everything that she'd lost, until one day, he offered to help her escape the castle.

They had got within touching distance of the front gates when Astaroth caught up with them. Roy had tried to protect her with his magic but the Azure Demon overpowered him easily. Fiona was caught once again. She had been terrified that Astaroth would kill Roy but he unexpectedly spared his life, even allowing him to continue being the princess's personal attendant.

Though soon after the Azure Demon came to her with another 'present', a necklace with an oval pendant. There appeared to be a dark blue swirling storm inside the glass dome, as if it had a mind of its own. When Astaroth had placed it around Fiona's neck, she immediately felt like all her emotions had been blunted and her mind had been numbed.

That had been a thousand years ago, since then she had lived her life like a living doll and no longer tried to escape. Roy attended to her every need, bringing her tea and playing his harp for her, but for Fiona, it felt like she was living behind a plate glass window. She was aware of everything around her but she couldn't do anything except the mechanical movements of eating, drinking and walking. Astaroth spent time with her regularly, seeming to like her obedient if silent company.

Finally uncurling herself, Fiona looked down at the cracked pendant on her chest. It was a solid black colour, no movement inside the glass. She tried to remember how it had broken, she gave a small gasp as it came back to her. Earlier that day Roy had moved her from her normal room and taken her up into one of the towers.

"There's trouble in the castle, stay here and I'll come and get you when it's safer." He had said before he left her. _'The fact he couldn't even speak the next time I saw him must mean he used all his magical power somehow.'_ As always, she did as she was told and stayed put, but the next person to come into the room was someone unfamiliar to her.

"Are you the mistress of this castle?" The blonde knight's eyes were cold and full of hate. "I came here to defeat the feared ruler of demonkind who has been living here for centuries. To think I'd find someone as insignificant and unimpressive as you. No matter, you shall die by my blade whether you are the one I'm looking for or not!" He'd drawn his sword and swung it down at her. But before it touched her, her pendant released a blast of energy, throwing the pair of them apart and knocking them both unconscious.

"So that's what happened… Lancelot mistook me for a demon and attacked me, the pendant protected me but broke in the process." Fiona murmured aloud. Under the magical necklace's influence, she hadn't been able to tell him that she was human… not that she probably would have even then. Death would have been a welcome reprieve from her endless captivity.

In the beginning the princess had previously tried to take her own life with a knife but Levi had found her and healed her before she died. After that she was locked in her bedroom, and everything she could possibly hurt herself with was removed. Then she had stopped eating and drinking entirely until Astaroth grew impatient with her stubbornness and cast a mind control spell on her to force her to break her strike. It was after that incident that Roy appeared, Fiona quickly became attached to him and didn't have it in her to hurt the lesser demon by trying to harm herself anymore.

Fiona closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, she now knew who she was and how she came to be here. However, she still hadn't found the answer to how she was to get out of this situation. She picked up the fallen book and decided to look at the other book that the Shadow had brought to her attention before.

She opened the magical artefacts book and flicked through the pages, stopping when she spotted a familiar looking sword. It was a gleaming silver blade with blue and gold accents, it was Lancelot's sword without a doubt. Fiona read the entry on the page. _'The Holy Sword, Arondight, was given to the first king of Mohne by the Holy Emperor Quorial so that he could vanquish the darkness threatening to engulf the land. It has been passed down through the Mohne Royal Family ever since.'_

Fiona remembered being told this story when she was a child. A brave man with hair like the sun had used all his strength trying to protect his best friend's homeland from the hand of evil. He collapsed, covered with wounds and his best friend prayed for him, offering every single year of his remaining life to save the brave knight. Quorial had been watching the battle and heard his pleas. Moved by their friendship, he descended from Heaven and saved his friend's life and gave him a sword with the power to defeat the evil and save everyone.

The princess had thought the tale was pure myth, but if the sword was real, then maybe so was the story. Did that mean that Lancelot was a descendant of the first king of Mohne? He had given off an air of quiet dignity so it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility. Fiona carried on turning the pages in the book until she found an entry headed 'The Azure Demon's Gem'.

The picture looked very much like the pendant around her neck, though the colour was closer to what it was before it got broken. According to the text in the book, the Azure Demon could transfer some of his spirit and power into a glass jewel but there weren't any details on what the gem could be used for once this happened. It theorised that the effect could change according to the demon's will. Fiona was flicking through the remaining pages when she heard a sudden voice, making her jump out of her skin.

"Oh, so this is where you are." Jordan drifted down to her from above. She quickly closed her book and put it down as he came down to her eye level.

"You're okay! Where did you go? I was worried about you!" Fiona questioned him. The red haired man looked at her in confusion.

"You do realise that I'm a ghost? I can appear and disappear at will, and what's the worst that can happen to me? I'm already dead." Jordan lent in towards her face as if noticing something. "Your cheeks are covered in tearstains… what happened?" Fiona looked down self-consciously and wiped her face with her hand.

"I was reading a book and I got all my memories back… part of me wishes I hadn't." She admitted in a small voice though she looked up sharply when she heard Jordan laugh in delight.

"Oh excellent! So you remember killing me now?" He asked, sounding almost excited but Fiona just stared at him blankly.

"What are you talking about? I didn't kill you! What makes you think that?" She demanded, her temper flaring a little at the false accusation.

"Don't lie to me! I know it was you! My memory is a little fuzzy but I remember that you were kneeling next to me right before I died. You were talking to someone and you said 'Let's put the body in the middle of the room where we can see it clearly.' in a delighted tone. How do you explain that? Who else could it be if not you?" Jordan raised his voice back at her.

"What? That's not what happened at all! Sit down there and I'll tell you." Fiona pointed to a chair opposite her. The ghost raised an eyebrow in amusement but obediently floated over to the chair. "Firstly, you snuck into the castle about a year or two after Astaroth moved in. You told me you were a Phantom Thief and would not stop bragging about it and showing off your magic. But I liked having someone new to talk to so I didn't really mind, plus the illusions you could pull off with the flower petals in the gardens were so beautiful." The princess saw Jordan open his mouth, about to protest that he wasn't bragging but she shook her head at him.

"A few days after we'd first met, I was walking through the corridors when I saw a trail of blood leading in to a room. I followed it and I found you lying face down on the floor, your back was a mess, you'd been blasted with a fireball or something. I remember I knelt down next to you and shouted for Roy to come and help." Fiona grimaced a little at the memory, the smell of burnt flesh wasn't an easy thing to forget.

"Roy came in and checked you over and told me that you were still alive and that he could heal you. I was relieved when I heard that so I asked him to put you in the middle of the room so we could see your injuries more clearly. That's what happened. I sounded happy because you were going to be okay." The princess had kept eye contact with Jordan throughout her explanation in the hopes that he'd believe her.

The Phantom Thief closed his eyes and was quiet for a few minutes as he absorbed what she had told him. Eventually he opened his eyes and looked at Fiona, a trace of guilt on his face.

"I'm not absolutely sure but you might be right. Now you've said that, I seem to remember talking with Roy about the best way to heal my injuries when he was taking me to another room." Jordan chewed on his lip before looking down at his translucent form. "But if that's the case, then what happened to me?"

"That I don't know. To be honest, I thought Roy had healed you then you'd left the castle without even saying goodbye to me." Fiona sounded put out as she swept some of her long hair out of her face. "I suppose it's possible that you died of your injuries and Roy didn't tell me because he didn't want to upset me. By the time I first saw your ghost I was already wearing this thing and I was trapped inside my mind, unable to react to anything." She picked up the chain around her neck to draw his attention to her necklace.

"I'd always had a bad feeling about that pendant. Today was the first day since I died that you answered when I spoke to you, no matter what I did you just ignored me. I've been flying around this castle on my own for so long I think it's messed with my memories of what actually happened." Jordan had come over to her to get a closer look at the necklace. "You can't take it off?"

"Nope, I can grab and hold it like this…" She picked up the glass jewel. "…But the moment I think about taking it off, this happens." On cue the pendant sparked and Fiona dropped it back onto her chest with a small hiss.

"It's probably reacting to the 'hostile' thought of removing it. I suppose it still has some power even though it's not doing anything harmful like repressing your emotions anymore." Jordan hovered in front of her with a thoughtful look. "You should be okay in here until morning, there's a couple of things I want to check out that might shed light on what happened to me, so I'm heading off now."

"Wait!" Fiona called before he disappeared. "You're a magic user, right? I'm interested in learning about magic to help protect myself, could you point me in the direction of a book of spells?" The ghost nodded and snapped his fingers and three books flew from the shelves and piled themselves on the table.

"There's some decent protection spells in there that can be pulled off by a novice like you, all you'd need to do is find the ingredients. Don't read all night, you'll need to keep your wits about you so Astaroth doesn't find you and refresh that pendant." With that Jordan flew through the wall and out of the room before Fiona could thank him for his help. She picked up the first of the books and opened the cover, settling down to read it.

* * *

The early morning sunlight shining through the library windows awoke Fiona from her slumber. Her gaze fell on the table next to her as she stretched. There was a piece of paper there that she had used to copy down a couple of spells she thought might be of use to her, if she could find all the ingredients that is. She folded up the sheet and tucked it safely into her bodice, her stomach growling loudly as she got to her feet.

"I guess my first job is to find something to eat." Fiona said to herself. She walked over to the door as it unlocked itself when the protection spell wore off. She knew there was a pantry nearby but finding it wasn't likely to be straightforward. Astaroth had used his Space/Time magic to cast an obstruction spell over the entire castle that made the rooms and corridors move around to make it harder to navigate.

However, because the perishables had to be stored in a cool environment, she had previously been able to get to the pantry by following the feeling of cold air. Fiona walked out in to the main corridor carefully, keeping an eye out for monsters before she began trying to gauge the temperature. It wasn't long before she found a definite cold spot and started to head in that direction.

"Finally!" She said with a smile as she found the food stores. The door was blocked with an iron portcullis but she knew where the secret switch was hidden, pulling a brick out of the wall to reveal a small button which she pushed. The grating raised and she walked into the room. _'Let's see. I need something to eat now but I'm best taking as much as I can so I don't have to keep coming back here.'_

Fiona found a small loaf of bread which she sat down and ate to quell her immediate hunger pangs before picking up a discarded medium sized sack, which she began to fill with food. She also found a glass bottle filled with water and added it to her bag. _'Oh good, black salt, I need that for one of my spells.'_ The princess was so busy with her own thoughts that she didn't realise someone was approaching her until it was too late.

She spun on her heels and came face to face with Lancelot's harsh glare, he already had his sword drawn and pointed at the centre of her chest.

"There you are, demon, I can't believe I almost let you escape last time because of my amnesia." Gone was the gentle smile and the concern he had shown for her when they'd first 'met'.

"Wait, Lancelot! You've got it all wrong! I got my memories back too and I'm not a demon, I'm a human and I've been held captive here against my will!" Fiona spoke with urgency, holding her hands out in front of her in a non-threatening gesture.

"Don't lie to me, demon! I saw your Demon Spirit with my own eyes!" Lancelot's voice growled in hatred but he reached his free hand into his pocket and threw something at Fiona's feet. "If you want me to believe you're a human then eat that root. It's demonsbane which is toxic to demons."

The princess cautiously bent down to pick up the plant, keeping her eyes on the knight who still had his sword pointing at her. _'What choice do I have? Hopefully there's no side effects for humans.'_ Fiona thought to herself as she bit off the top of the stalk, her face screwing up in disgust as she chewed and swallowed it.

"That's ridiculously bitter…" She grumbled before fixing Lancelot with a look to ask him if he was satisfied. For his part, he looked more than a little stunned, lowering his sword.

"You ate that without even hesitating… I don't understand, when I first saw you in that room, I saw your Demon Spirit as clear as day." Lancelot put his sword back into its scabbard and the princess let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean by that?" Fiona asked him as she gestured to a couple of wooden crates that the pair could sit down on as they talked.

"Members of the Mohne Royal Bloodline have a unique ability. They can tell the difference between humans and demons by sight alone, by being able to see their demonic spirit or aura." Lancelot explained to the woman. "I thought something had happened to that ability with the memory loss because I didn't see it in you now or after we both woke up in that room. That's why I had you eat the demonsbane, just to be sure."

"Well I'm glad that you decided to double check. I think the Demon Spirit you saw before came from my pendant." Fiona held up her broken necklace for him. "This is the Azure Demon's gem. Astaroth put some of his own power and magic into it. When you went to strike me down, it blasted us both back with some sort of shockwave and cracked in the process."

"I never thought I'd be glad for a demonic artefact, but thank Heavens for that necklace, I nearly killed an entirely innocent person." Lancelot grimaced in horror and guilt before taking one of the woman's hands, and moving down to one knee in front of her with his head bowed. "Princess Fiona, please accept my humblest apologies for mistaking you for a demon and trying to kill you."

"You don't have to apo- Wait, how did you know I was a princess?" Fiona asked him in puzzlement. The knight stood back up and retook his seat next to her.

"Legends have always spoken about a princess being held captive by a great demon in this castle, I assumed that had to be you. Though that story is over a thousand years old, so I have no idea how you've lived so long." Lancelot reached over to a nearby barrel of fruit and pulled out a red apple which he cut in half with his sword, handing one to the princess and taking the other for himself.

"Astaroth can control space and time. He's stopped time for me inside my castle so I don't age even while things decay around me. But outside these walls, time still goes by as normal... Can I ask you a question?" Fiona took a small bite of the apple; it was sweet and juicy. "You mentioned the Mohne Royal Bloodline and I read in the library that your sword is handed down through the Mohne monarchy. Are you the King of Mohne?"

"I'm the Prince of Mohne. My father is the king. Originally my older brother was going to be the next to ascend the throne but a demon killed him in cold blood many years ago." Lancelot's eyes burned with a fiery rage; this was the root cause of his hatred of demons.

"I inherited the Holy Sword Arondight and swore vengeance on demonkind. I came to this castle to kill or seal the Demon King who lives here, people who live in the surrounding lands have long complained of mysterious disappearances of citizens and most think the demon is to blame. I struck the barrier surrounding the castle with my enchanted sword and made a big hole for me to go through."

"So that's what happened… You mean to fight Astaroth then?" Fiona queried with a pensive expression on her face. Lancelot nodded at her solemnly. "Well, you're not going to like this, but in that case, I can't go with you. I'm trying to find the ingredients to a couple of spells I think will help me but I need to stay out of his clutches until I'm ready."

"But, Fiona!" She was right, Lancelot didn't like it at all but he realised the sense of what she was saying. "… I suppose I could help you by keeping the Azure Demon too busy to look for you." He grumbled, looking more like a petulant child than a prince.

"There is one other thing I want to ask you…" The princess held up the remaining demonsbane that she still had. "Can I have this? It's an ingredient to one of my spells."

"Of course, take it. Just remember, if you get into any trouble, then find me. I'll help you in any way I can." Lancelot made sure to look her in the eyes to make sure his message went in. Fiona nodded to show she understood, she put the plant into her sack along with her food and other ingredients before tying it to her belt to keep both her hands free. She bid the prince goodbye, leaving him to fill up his own bags.

Fiona's next destination was one of the many internal gardens in the castle, a lot of the ingredients she needed were plants and herbs so it was a good place to start. She kept to corridors with lots of sunlight, and sure enough, she came upon a garden. The princess grinned when she saw the rowan trees were in fruit. Fiona tore a square of fabric from the hem of her skirt and held it in her hand as she picked the rowan berries, once she had enough, she used a hair ribbon to tie the scrap of fabric into a makeshift pouch.

After she had put the berries in her sack, the princess began walking slowly through the garden, looking at the grass. _'Come on, I know I've seen candlewick plants in the castle grounds before.'_ Fiona was so busy staring at her feet that she banged into a boulder… or so she thought. At second glance she realised she'd just walked head first into a sleeping golem who was now getting up.

"Ack! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" Fiona wasn't sure why she was apologising as she desperately backpedalled away from the shifting rock puppet. Luckily it didn't seem to be moving too quickly so she was able to run away from it. _'Phew! I got away. Though one of these times I might not be able to escape, I should look for a small weapon or something to defend myself with.'_

As Fiona thought that, her eyes passed over a shield decorating the wall, it had two ornate cinquedeas crossed in front of it. They were more like long daggers rather than short swords, but the princess was pretty sure she could wield it without too much difficulty. She walked over to the wall and lifted one of them out of the brackets holding it.

"Yeah, I think this will work." Fiona mumbled to herself as she tested the weight and balance of the blade in her hand. She was even able to use the hanging fixture on the hilt to hook the sword to her belt. The woman took a moment to retrieve the sheet of paper from her bodice and looked at the list of ingredients again. _'Black Salt: Check. Demonsbane: Check. Rowan berries: Check. A coin minted in the year of the caster's birth... I know my parents gave me a set of ceremonial coins from the year I was born once. They should still be in my room.'_

Fiona was a little nervous about heading to her bedroom, but hopefully Levi and Roy were still out looking for her so they wouldn't be there. Even though Roy was her friend, she didn't want to involve him in her plan. It was highly likely that Astaroth wouldn't spare him a second time if she failed. The princess's room was one of the few places in this castle that never moved, along with Astaroth's room, the Grand Library and the front gates.

When she reached the door, she pushed it open slowly and carefully. She could hear what sounded like someone rooting around somewhere, and it was coming from the direction of her wardrobe. Fiona drew the short sword from her belt as she cautiously looked around the door, she saw a man with red hair on his knees rummaging through the bottom of the cupboard.

"Oh Jordan, thank goodness, it's only you." Fiona breathed a sigh of relief as she put away her cinquedea. The Phantom Thief had jumped at the sound of her voice and turned around in shock. "What are you doing going through a lady's thi-" Her question died in her throat as she realised two things: One: Jordan wasn't floating in the air. Two: His body wasn't transparent.

Fiona rushed forward and grabbed a hold of his hand to confirm her suspicions, the former ghost was standing in front of her but this time he was made of flesh and blood. She looked up at Jordan's face in utter disbelief and he just grinned at her.

"Turns out the reason why neither of us could remember how I died is because I wasn't actually dead." His golden eyes were shining with such happiness at being alive that Fiona found herself tearing up. "I'm really sorry for blaming you all these years. I think subconsciously I knew it wasn't you though, I was really scared when you fell out the window but I didn't know why at the time."

"But how?! The last time I tried to touch you, my hand went right through you. You were definitely a ghost!" Fiona squeezed his hand again, as if to check one more time and Jordan squeezed hers back.

"I was a spirit as it turns out. A ghost is the soul of a dead person, a spirit is the soul of a live person. After we spoke last night, I went to go look at my body." Jordan gently led Fiona over to the small couch so they could both sit down. "It's been lying on a table for all these years, perfectly preserved. Initially I thought it was some magic of yours and you were using me as some sick decoration. But after our talk, I remembered discussing with Roy about putting myself in suspended animation so I could heal faster."

"Roy was supposed to bring me back once my wounds were gone but for some reason he didn't. Maybe Astaroth messed with his memories and emotions too, I don't know. Mages tend to have strong minds so eventually my soul popped out of my body on it's own accord and I just assumed I was dead." Jordan gave Fiona's hand another warm squeeze because she still looked like she was about to cry. "So last night, I decided to try a spell to reunite my soul with my body, figuring I had nothing to lose. Next thing I knew, I was a living, breathing, corporeal being once again."

The tears did start flowing then, mostly from Fiona's happiness for the Phantom Thief but there was a touch of sadness in there too. _'If Astaroth hadn't put this pendant on me, then maybe Jordan would have been revived sooner and he wouldn't have had to spend a thousand years as a lonely ghost.'_ She didn't know why Roy never did the ritual to bring the red head out of suspended animation, maybe it was simply because *she* had never asked him to.

"I'm so glad that you're alive…" Fiona smiled through her tears. "But why were you rummaging through my wardrobe?" She asked. Jordan got up and went over to the cupboard again, he bent down and picked up a small wooden box.

"I was looking for this. This box is full of my stuff, I asked you to keep it hidden for me." The red head came back over to the couch and sat down. He took one of the keys that he wore around his neck and unlocked the box, opening it. "It's full of all the magical tools of the trade and everything that a Phantom Thief would need."

Fiona leaned forward to look inside, there seemed to be lots of gemstones, a length of rope that glimmered and what looked like a spare monocle. Jordan started filling each of his many pockets with things from his box of tricks.

"What about you? Why'd you come back to your room?" He questioned the princess. Fiona got up and walked over to the wall where a framed set of coins was hanging. She took the collection down and opened the back of it.

"I came to get one of these. I need it for a spell I found, those books you showed me were very helpful, thank you." Fiona took one of the coins in hand before retrieving her ingredient list. "Most of these I know I can find around here. There's two that I'm less certain about, sulphur and potash."

"I don't know about potash but I've got some sulphur right here, it's a pretty common magical component. Here, take it." The mage dug a leather pouch out of the box and gave it to Fiona when she came back over to him. "Also hold out your hands. I made these myself, the black ones are smoke bombs and the yellow ones are light bombs. Just throw them at the ground to use them."

Jordan had filled Fiona's outstretched hands with a number of coloured gemstones which she separated into two different pockets in her dress.

"Thank you so much, these will definitely come in handy, I'm sure." The princess watched as the red head finished emptying the wooden box. "What are you planning to do now?"

"First, I'm going to look for Roy, I want to know why he never brought me out of suspended animation. Then I'll see about getting revenge on Astaroth for nearly killing me in the first place." Jordan stood up from the couch and somehow shrunk the box down with his hands so he could put that in his pocket too. "I guess that means we part ways for now? You probably want to look for more ingredients, right?"

Fiona smiled at his understanding and nodded as the pair of them slowly walked out of the room and into the corridor. She glanced out the window and saw the sun was high in the sky, which probably meant it was around noon or possibly the early afternoon.

"Yeah, don't worry about me though, I have no intention of ever being caught again." The princess reassured him. "I'm going to go and find the kitchens, there's a herb garden there where I can get some more plants. Be careful, please."

"I'll be fine! I'm The Amazing Phantom Thief Jordan after all! You just make sure to look after yourself too." The red head grinned confidently at her before taking her hand, leaning down to place a kiss on the back of it. The gesture surprised Fiona but Jordan just gave her a mischievous wink, releasing her hand and turning to walk down the passageway.

* * *

After splitting up with Jordan, Fiona had gone looking for the kitchen. Unfortunately, she didn't know any tricks for locating it like she had done with the pantry. She'd been wandering around for a good couple of hours before she ended up in another courtyard. The princess tutted to herself in annoyance, about to turn and go back the way she came when she remembered something.

'_Ah! I'm near 'The Queen's Heart'! I needed to come here to get some rubrite sand at some point anyway.'_ Fiona walked in to the garden and approached the small opening of a cave and she headed inside. The floor sloped downwards at a fairly steep angle so she had to concentrate on where she was putting her feet so she didn't trip and fall.

"Hello there! Fancy running into you here!" A familiar cheerful voice greeted her as Fiona finished navigating the slope. She saw Noah standing there, bathed in the red light from the rubrite rocks in the walls of the cave. There was a hole at the top of the inner grotto and a small waterfall fell from above in to a little pool underneath it.

"Noah! Nice to see you again! What are you doing in here?" Fiona asked him, answering his smile with her own. The water refracted the light from outside into the cave which only served to enhance the red glow throughout the cavern.

"Just exploring, I never thought there'd be such a magical looking place inside this dark castle. What about you? How come you're on your own?" The Grand Mage had been examining the rockface in interest when Fiona had come in.

"Oh, the card I chose didn't lead me to anyone, it just teleported me to the Grand Library. The first person I saw was myself in the mirror so I realised I was supposed to figure this out on my own. Then I found a book that restored my memories – I still haven't heard of you, by the way – I'm Princess Fiona Fortuna, this is my castle and I've been a prisoner here since my kingdom was destroyed by Astaroth a thousand years ago." The woman saw the mage's face show a complicated expression.

"Yes, I knew about this castle's history before I came here. But I didn't know you were the captured princess when I first met you. I found an ancient portrait of you earlier today which made me realise who you had to be." Noah's tone was sad and his eyes were full of sympathy for her. "I'd like to help you but I'm not really supposed to use my powers to help anyone specific."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not going to ask for your help. I found a magic book in the library with a couple of spells that should help me get out of this situation. That's why I came to this cave, I need some rubrite sand." Fiona rubbed both her hands roughly down the walls a few times to dislodge small particles of rock. She ripped another square of fabric from her skirt before kneeling down and collecting the sand into it.

"What are the spells? How do you think they'll help?" Noah queried, ever the curious sort as he watched her as she pulled a ribbon from her hair to tie up the bundle when she had enough. She stowed it away in her sack before accepting the Grand Mage's hand to help her to her feet.

"One's an anti-magic potion and the other is a barrier spell…" Fiona told him as she dusted off her skirt. "… And as for what my plan is, I'd rather not tell you, I'm afraid." That response surprised Noah and he pouted, looking a touch put out.

"Why's that? Don't you trust me?" The mage hated not knowing things, hence why he spent all his time exploring mysterious places whenever one caught his attention.

"No, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I don't want to get you involved. This is my problem; I need to find the answers myself." Fiona looked at him earnestly, hoping he wasn't offended. "Anyway, I'd best go. I've still got some things to find." She was about to head back out of the cave when she realised it had started to rain heavily while they'd been talking.

"You'll get soaked if you go out now, might as well wait it out, I'm sure it won't last long." Noah had walked over to a smooth boulder to sit on and beckoned her over. "This cave is beautiful, to be honest I could just sit here and look at it all day."

"There's an old story to do with this cave if you'd like to hear it?" Fiona offered, she couldn't help but smile at the Grand Mage's emphatic nod, giving her his undivided attention. "As the legend goes, there was a Queen whose land had been attacked by invaders. Overpowered by the incoming force, she was eventually forced to fall back to this cave along with a small compliment of her personal guards." A couple of Shadows materialised and hovered in front of her, as if listening to the tale themselves.

"Despite their valiant efforts, the soldiers fell one by one to the enemy swords until only the Queen was left. She was just about to be killed herself when suddenly, the bodies of her guards started to emit a strong red light. All the invading troops were killed as soon as the light touched them and the Queen was saved. That's why this cave is called 'The Queen's Heart' and rubrite sand is also called 'Sand of Bravery' in honour of her fallen soldiers." Fiona had always found this tale to be bittersweet, the Queen lived on but at the cost of all her men. It hit a little close to home now.

"What a moving story, I'll have to remember to tell my sister that one, she'll love it. Though I doubt very much if it's anything more than myth. Strange physical phenomena like the light in this cave and tall tales to explain it often go hand in hand." Noah told her once she'd finished, probably having sensed the princess's sadness.

"Noah, I have to ask you something… can you read my thoughts? You guessed I'd lost my memories when we first met and more than once, you've said something related to what I was literally just thinking about." Fiona eyed him uneasily, she felt very uncomfortable about anyone being able to see inside her mind. Astaroth and his mental magic was bad enough.

"Well I could with a spell, but don't worry, I've not used one on you. It's a combination of me being incredibly perceptive and the fact you wear your heart on your sleeve." Noah reassured her with his bright grin, the princess breathed a sigh of relief. It was still raining so she decided to take the opportunity to eat something.

Fiona opened her sack and brought out some bread, cheese and slices of meat. She offered them to Noah and he gratefully took some. The two of them sat in a companionable silence as they ate, sharing Fiona's bottle of water, both entranced by the beautiful light in the cave. Once she'd finished, the princess pulled out her list, frowning as she looked down it.

"What's up?" Noah asked at seeing her face, glancing towards the entrance of the cave. It looked like it had stopped raining finally.

"There's an ingredient on here that I don't know if I'm going to be able to find in the castle. Potash, it's a mineral so there might be some in one of the other caves around here but there's no guarantee that there will be any at all." Fiona folded the paper back up and put it away with a sigh. The Grand Mage looked to be debating to himself internally before he opened his manuscript.

"Alright, seeing as you told me about that legend and shared your lunch, I'll make an exception and help you out in thanks." Noah mumbled an incantation and a pouch appeared in the air in front of him. "There you go, some potash for your spell."

"Thank you, Noah! Now I have a really good chance of pulling this off." Fiona took the hovering bag and put it into her sack. "I'll get out of your hair now so you can get back to exploring. Take care!" The princess grinned at the mage who nodded and gave her a small wave. She cautiously climbed back up the slope, being extra careful of the wet stones so she didn't slip.

Fiona looked up into the sky once she was out of the cave, between wandering around trying to find the kitchen and taking shelter from the rain, she'd lost a lot of time. She probably only had an hour or two before nightfall and she'd need a room with a lock before then. The princess clicked her tongue against her teeth in annoyance, about to leave the gardens when something caught her eye.

"A candlewick plant! Finally!" Fiona said in delight as she walked over to it and knelt down. She ran a finger over the fuzzy fibres that coated the leaves and gave it its name before pulling the small shrub up by its roots. The woman ripped away some more of her skirt so she could wrap it up to prevent soil getting all over her food.

The princess stood up again and began looking for a place to spend the night, checking each room she passed to see if there was a working lock. As the light levels dropped Fiona encountered ghouls a couple of times but she was able to run away from them without a problem. Just as she was starting to get anxious, she finally found a door with an unbroken lock, she went into the room, closed the door and immediately turned the key.

Fiona breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to examine the room, it wasn't a massive chamber but it looked comfortable enough. There was a bed against the back wall, a small couch, a dresser and even a baby grand piano in one corner. The woman was looking around in interest, but when she walked around the other side of the bed, she jumped in shock.

Lying on the floor was the black haired man that had flown past her when she'd fallen out of the window. He seemed to be unconscious and there was a small pool of blood under his body. Fiona immediately knelt down next to him in concern. _'Wait a minute, didn't Jordan say he was probably a demon? Should I even be thinking of helping him?'_ Just then the man groaned in pain and shifted slightly. _'… I can't. Demon or not, I just can't leave him like this.'_

Fiona wasn't familiar with the armour the demon was wearing but she managed to get the clasps undone and she gently removed his breastplate and put it to the side. It looked like the most serious bleeding was coming from a gash in his lower abdomen. The princess stood up and used her sword to cut a small cotton pillowcase open so she could use it as a bandage. She carefully folded it up and pressed it over the wound, the touch finally making the man stir.

"Careful there, you've got some nasty injuries." Fiona spoke in a gentle tone as the demon's red eyes slowly focused on her. The dark haired man gasped in shock, sitting up sharply and roughly shoving her away.

"What were you doing to me?! How dare you touch the great Ronove without permission!" The demon now known as Ronove sounded indignant and a little panicked before the pain from his stomach made him wince and look down, seeing the makeshift dressing.

"I *was* trying to see to your wound, and I couldn't ask your permission because you were out cold!" Fiona's lips thinned into a line as she answered in an irritated tone as she rubbed her back. She had banged straight into the nearby wall when the demon had pushed her away.

"I don't require help from an inferior being such as you." Ronove replied testily as he gingerly shuffled backwards so he was leaning against the side of the bed. "Why would you be willing to help me anyway, woman? Aren't you Astaroth's favourite toy?"

"My name is Fiona, not woman… and if by 'toy' you mean 'prisoner' then yes, I am." The princess was also sitting cross legged on the floor but she was keeping a respectable distance from him as neither of them trusted the other. "As to why I was trying to help, the simple reason is because you were injured and I couldn't leave you that way."

"Humans… that kindness of yours is frequently your undoing. It's something I can never understand." Ronove muttered in answer, though there was an undertone of curious puzzlement. The demon looked at the window and saw night had fallen. "Looks like we are stuck with one another until the morning. Have you locked the door?"

At Fiona's nod, Ronove cautiously got to his feet, it was obvious that moving was incredibly painful for him. He sat on the edge of the bed and carefully swung his legs up and shuffled back against the headboard. The princess got up off the floor and picked up the cotton bandage that had fallen when he'd stood. She held it out to the demon and he took it with a grunt of acknowledgement.

"Did Astaroth do this to you?" Fiona asked, watching as Ronove's whole body bristled at the mention of that name. "… I'll take that as a yes. I gather it's not just human lives that he has ruined in the past then?" The man studied her face for a moment, as if trying to gauge her intentions.

"Fine, I'll satisfy your curiosity as to why I'm here. Find yourself a chair first." Ronove waited as Fiona brought the chair from the dresser over and she sat by the bed, though just out of arm's reach. "My full name is Ronove Nightlord Diogeyer. For millennia, the Diogeyer Royal Family has ruled over the Underworld. I was brought up as the Crown Prince, being the eldest, and my younger brother was the next in line."

"Growing up, Astaroth was my best friend. I trusted him completely, so much so that I had planned to give him half of the kingdom once I ascended the throne. But twelve hundred years ago …he betrayed me." Fiona watched as Ronove grimaced and closed his eyes for a moment. It was obvious that the fact his closest friend had turned on him stung even to this day.

"One day he just walked into our manor and destroyed everything. He killed my mother and father; he injured my little brother; his power was incredible. I knew I couldn't beat him in a straight contest of strength, with my whole world falling down around me, I… I turned and ran like a coward. Astaroth hit me in the back with a blast and I still wear that scar of shame to this day." Ronove finally looked over to Fiona, expecting to face her scorn for his spinelessness, but instead, her turquoise eyes were brimming with unshed tears.

"You would weep for me? A person who you've just met, and a demon no less?" He spoke quietly, with a trace of awe in his voice. The princess couldn't answer in words, she nodded and a few tears rolled down her cheeks which she wiped away with her hand. "You are the first person to cry at my story… what a strange human you are."

Ronove had had a half smile on his face but suddenly he hunched over in pain and Fiona could see there was even more fresh blood staining the bandage. She quickly got to her feet and stood at the side of the bed, holding her hand out to the demon.

"Here. I'll give you my permission, just this once." At seeing Ronove's blank look, Fiona elaborated. "Take some of my life energy to heal up your wounds, it's okay, I'll let you." The man stiffened in shock and stared at her in wide-eyed disbelief.

"A…are you absolutely certain?" At receiving a firm nod, Ronove gently took her hand and pulled Fiona towards him and onto the bed. Their torsos were just touching and he put his other hand on her back. It was almost like a hug but not quite. The princess stayed still and silent until the demon released her while saying. "There. It is done."

"Really? I didn't feel a thing… and look! Your wound is still there!" Fiona spoke in alarm as she lifted the dressing, granted that it appeared a lot better and the bleeding had stopped. Ronove took the cotton pillowcase from her and placed it back over it to stop her fretting.

"I didn't take enough for it to affect you or shorten your lifespan. Yes, it's not completely gone but I should be able to move around without much pain in the morning. Thank you for that, Fiona." Ronove's tone was soft and there was an almost gentle smile on his face, so much different from the angry look he'd first given her. The princess suddenly became aware that she was still sitting on the bed with him. So she quickly got to her feet and brought her chair a little closer and sat down again.

"What happened to your brother? You said he was injured?" Fiona asked the first question in her head in a bid to distract herself from her fluster. It had got dark in the room and Ronove pointed towards a nearby candlestick and lit it with his magic so they could see better.

"Astaroth took him with him. Levi still serves him to this day." Ronove saw the woman blinking at him in shock. "Yes, Levi is my beloved little brother. The three of us grew up together, though he always idolised Astaroth. Once he even gave him a present even though it was *my* birthday."

"B-B…but Levi's a girl, right?!" Fiona stammered in utter disbelief and confusion. "Admittedly she is a little androgynous but her frame is definitely that of a female!" Ronove gave a small shake of his head and sighed softly.

"Levi changed his appearance using a magical technique. It's complicated… I'm unsure how much of it is Levi wanting to be a woman or whether he's doing it so Astaroth might finally notice him." The princess had long known about Levi's unrequited love for her captor, but she had never once suspected that the smaller demon was actually male. "I've asked him to come back to me countless times… and I also know if I avenge my family name by killing Astaroth that Levi will never forgive me. But my Royal Blood demands that justice be served."

Fiona gave him a troubled and watery look. _'That's a horrible situation to be in. Ronove might even have to kill Levi in order to get to Astaroth in the first place.'_ She also knew full well what it was like to have everything stolen from her by the Azure Demon, she had been powerless in the face of his strength too.

"Don't look at me with such a sad face... It's getting late, we should both get some rest." Ronove spoke after a few minutes of silence. Fiona nodded and headed over to the couch to lie down. "You don't need to sleep there, there's plenty of space in the bed for your tiny body, even with me here." The princess looked like she was going to protest, but after a moment, she crossed the room again.

"I guess it's ok to share the bed, it's due to extenuating circumstances after all… Though I'm warning you, try anything and I'll bite you!" Fiona fixed Ronove with a fierce look and he chuckled at her.

"Demon I may be, but I'm also a gentleman through and through."

* * *

Fiona woke up just as the sun was rising, the *click* of the protect spell on the door wearing off being what disturbed her. She carefully got off the bed as Ronove was still sleeping soundly. She washed her face in the enjoining bathroom, refilled her water bottle and had her breakfast in silence. The morning was so peaceful it was easy to forget the situation she was in.

The princess found herself drawn to the piano and she lovingly ran her hand over the elegant mahogany with a feeling of nostalgia. Under the influence of the pendant, she hadn't played the piano in such a long time. _'I'm probably beyond rusty.'_ But she sat down on the stool and started to play hesitantly.

Fiona smiled to herself as her fingers moved naturally as if her hands themselves remembered how to play. She looked up at the sound of a small gasp and saw Ronove sitting up in the bed, watching her in surprise. As he got to his feet, she was pleased to notice that he was moving much easier than he had been the night before. The demon held out his hand and summoned a beautiful violin, and it was her turn to gasp when he started playing along.

The two melodies blended harmoniously with each other as they kept playing a gentle song. After a few moments the door to the room opened and Noah peered cautiously around it. He looked momentarily astonished at what he saw before a delighted smile crossed his face. The Grand Mage pulled an ocarina out of a holder on his belt as he approached them and its clear tone joined in with the piano and violin.

The instrumental continued until the subtle lilt of a harp made Fiona look up and see Roy smiling at her in joy. It was her love of music and the piano that had inspired him to take up an instrument in the first place. So he was ecstatic to be able to play with her once more. The four virtuosos played a soothing meandering melody that attracted the attention of Jordan, followed shortly by Lancelot.

The Phantom Thief sat on the edge of the bed with his eyes closed, a smile of contentment on his face as he listened. Lancelot couldn't hide the shock from his face as he stood dumbly in the open doorway. A pair of Shadows had appeared and they danced and spun across the top of the piano in time to the slow and elegant music. On some unknown signal the four musicians simultaneously brought their private concert to a climax and lowered their instruments.

"To think that demons could be capable of creating such beautiful music." Lancelot was looking at Ronove and Roy with a complex expression. This didn't fit in with his hard-held beliefs that demons were nothing but cruel and callous creatures with no respect for human life.

"I guess you've learned a valuable lesson then, just as there is lots of different types of humans, there are also lots of different types of demons." Noah had an enigmatic smile on his face as he put his ocarina away. "Personally, I always try to remember that where there's light, there is also shadow and that's what keeps the world in balance."

Fiona stood up from the piano stool and Roy came over to her side where he started looking her over, as if he was checking for something.

"Oh, no, I'm not hurt or anything. I'm perfectly fine. What about you? Are you ok?" Fiona asked him when she realised what he was doing. Roy gave her a big nod in answer. "Good, I'm glad… Jordan wanted to talk to you before. Have you already spoken to him?" That's when the princess noticed that Roy was sporting a black eye, it had been partly hidden by his fringe which was why she hadn't spotted it before. She looked over to the red head in concern.

"Don't worry. We got it sorted between us, we're good now." It didn't look like the Phantom Thief was willing to go into any more detail than that as he changed the subject. "How's the ingredient hunt going? You haven't got much more time to make your move, Astaroth is fixing the hole Blondie put in the barrier as we speak."

"There have been rumours in the Underworld that Astaroth had become strangely attached to a human woman, and from what I've seen it's completely true. I hate to say it but even if you get outside the castle, he would just go out, find you and drag you back here again." Ronove had a frown of concern on his face as he put his armour back on, his injuries still stung a little but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been.

"Yes, I know that all too well. And don't forget, you guys will all be stuck if you're still here when the barrier is repaired too… But I do have a plan, if I can pull it off then I'll finally be free and Astaroth will have no reason to stay in the human world." Fiona gave the men standing around her a reassuring smile.

"What is your plan? You mentioned a couple of spells but I must confess I can't see how you hope to defeat Astaroth with something you found in a book in the library." Lancelot looked extremely doubtful. "I repeat my earlier offer, I'm willing to help you get out of here. I'll do anything that's within my power." Roy nodded emphatically and pounded the side of his fist against his chest twice as if to say 'Me too!'

"We've both been trapped in this castle for a thousand years, living as if we were dead. There's no way I'd leave you behind while I escaped alone. Stealing you from under the Azure Demon's nose would be the ultimate revenge for a Phantom Thief like me." Jordan had his familiar mischievous smile on his face.

"I plan on killing Astaroth eventually anyway, it matters not if I put it off until you are safely outside the barrier. I could raze this castle to the ground then if I needed to." Ronove's tone was purposefully disinterested, as if he was offering only a minor concession but his attempt at being aloof was fooling precisely no one.

"And as for me… I'm not supposed to use my powers to help anyone specific." Noah rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But that said, there's no way I can close my eyes to your situation. You are way too sweet a person to spend eternity as a prisoner, Fiona, and that's the honest truth." Fiona was looking at all of them with tears prickling her eyes.

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you are all willing to help me. But I can't accept your offers. I know more than anyone how terrifying Astaroth is, if I fail, he'll kill you all. I already have too much blood staining my hands." Fiona carefully reached in to her pocket as she spoke. As soon as she had one of Jordan's gems between her fingertips, she pulled it out and threw it to the floor. As smoke filled the room, she took the chance to run. "I'm sorry! Please, try to understand!"

Lancelot coughed and waved the dense smoke away as quickly as he could, but it was already too late, Fiona was long gone. With the obstructive spell still in full effect, catching up to her would be no simple matter, even if they knew which direction she had gone.

"Wow! She is *really* determined to keep us out of this." The Grand Mage sounded half exasperated and half impressed. "I can't say as I blame her though, Astaroth has nearly killed three of the people in this room alone. Two of them for trying to save her." Jordan eyed the carrot-top with suspicion, he was a little too well informed for his liking.

"Is it even worth following her? She might just keep running away from us, in which case she may not get a chance to finish her plan, whatever it might be." The red head said with a sigh as he looked at the open door. He was surprised when Roy stamped his feet loudly to get his attention, shaking his head angrily at him. "What? You're going after her anyway?" The green haired man nodded with a look of determination before running out of the room, leaving the rest of them behind.

Fiona had taken random turnings as she had escaped, hoping to snarl up her route to make it harder for anyone to follow her. Eventually the princess had to stop and catch her breath, she lent against a pillar and looked up and down the corridor to make sure she was alone. _'I'm so sorry, everyone. Forgive me.'_ It was then she realised something.

"Hang on a minute…" Fiona walked into the room opposite her. "Yes! I found the kitchens, which means…" She ran through the room and opened the door on the far side and grinned in delight at seeing the herb garden. The woman knelt down next to the bed and collected some fennel and a good bunch of rosemary. She finally had all the ingredients she needed, all she had to do was ready the spells.

Finishing her quest in the castle kitchens was a stroke of good fortune as it was the perfect place to prepare and make everything. The first thing Fiona did was to pull out her water bottle, which was almost full. She poured half of it into a small cauldron and put it on the stove, lighting a fire beneath it. As the princess waited for the water to come to a boil, she laid all her collected ingredients on the table. Then she took out the piece of paper from her bodice and put it next to them, before reattaching her food sack to her belt.

"Right, first thing I need to do is toss in a handful of rowan berries and stir until they are completely broken down." Fiona murmured as she picked up the berries and chucked them in, stirring with a wooden spoon. Next the recipe called for her to scrape the fluff from three leaves of the candlewick plant into the mixture.

The princess carefully picked up a dinner knife and did just that, trying not to get any sap in the cauldron. Next she picked up the demonsbane and broke it roughly in to pieces and dropped them into the water. _'Now I have to stir until the mixture turns from yellow to red.'_ Once that was done, Fiona chopped up the fennel and stripped the rosemary off the wood-like stalks.

"I feel like I'm making soup here, not a potion." The woman commented as she added the chopped fennel and rosemary buds into the pot and a strong aroma filled the kitchen. The final ingredient was the coin Fiona had retrieved from her room. She held her breath as she tossed it in, jumping when there was a loud popping sound and the mixture immediately turned cobalt blue.

The princess clapped her hands together in delight, it looked exactly like it was supposed to. Now anything she dipped into this mixture *should* become a magic repelling talisman. Fiona took the cauldron off of the stove and placed it on the table. She grabbed a hold of her broken necklace by the chain and lent forward to slowly immerse the cracked glass dome in the liquid, being careful not to let any of her hair fall into the pot.

When she removed the pendant a few minutes later, it didn't look visibly any different. Fiona wouldn't know for sure if it had worked until the next time someone tried to cast a spell or use magic on her. But the princess didn't have time to worry about that as she got out a mortar and pestle to prepare her next spell.

The woman added the black salt, sulphur, rubrite sand and potash to the stone bowl and used the heavy pestle to grind them all together into a uniform blend of red/orange powder. There was just one more thing to put in the mix. _'Three hairs from a princess's head.'_ Fiona separated out a trio of strands and cut them off with her sword, close to the roots. When she added them to the mortar, the slightly caustic powder broke the hair down as she crushed and mixed it in.

"Now I'm supposed to form this into a stick shape. While protecting my hands, of course." Fiona laid out a clean cloth and tipped the powder from the bowl into a rough line. The mixture was already clumping together slightly from the moisture released from her hair, so she tucked the fabric around it and started to roll it into a short cylinder.

It took the princess a couple of tries to figure out just how much pressure to apply as she rolled the cloth back and forth, so the powder would stick together, but without crushing it back to dust. Fiona patiently kept trying and before long she had an orange stick that looked a lot like chalk. However, any lines she drew with this would turn into an impenetrable barrier as soon as she said the activation word… at least in theory.

The princess allowed herself a smile of satisfaction as she drew a short line on the table and a barrier that reached the ceiling appeared and disappeared at her command. Fiona wrapped the chalk carefully in the cloth and tucked it away up her sleeve. She was as ready as she was ever going to be, the woman stood up from the table just as Roy came tearing into the room.

"Roy! What are you doing here?" Fiona felt her heart sink, she'd hoped that she could set her plan into action before anyone found her again. The lesser demon looked irate, he stalked over and took a hold of the princess by both of her shoulders. He then started to mouth something slowly at her.

"Don't try and leave me behind anymore. I exist to serve you, Lady Fiona, that is my only wish." Fiona's eyes filled with tears as she read his lips, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him hard. Roy wrapped his arms around her and hugged her just as tightly.

"I'm sorry, Roy! You've always been there for me, ever since the first day we met. Even when I couldn't answer you, you spoke to me every single day. It helped ease my loneliness because I knew you were right there beside me. I truly believe I would have lost my mind if it wasn't for you. I love you so much… I just don't want to hurt you anymore." Fiona spoke straight from her heart. Roy buried his face into her hair as he wept right along with her.

"I completed both of my spells. Could you do me a favour and try and cast a spell on me? I want to make sure the anti-magic potion worked." Fiona asked the mage when they finally released each other. Roy nodded and took a few steps back from the princess, he held out his hands to summon his magic orbs and fired a very weak light spell at her. Her pendant flashed once and the blast fizzled into nothing before it could touch her.

"Brilliant! Looks like it's working fine, thanks Roy. I'm all set, I'm ready to do this. Let's head for the gates now." The green haired man gave her a smile as bright as the morning sun. Fiona headed out of the kitchen, her closest companion right by her side.

* * *

Thanks to the fact the front gates didn't move, it wasn't too long before Fiona and Roy got to the entrance hall of the castle. The princess remembered greeting people here back before her kingdom fell. She'd stand at the top of the double staircase with her mother and father while the head butler introduced their guests for a warm welcome.

"Looks like camping out here was a good call, nice one, Blondie!" Fiona jumped at Jordan's sudden voice. He came out from the shadows under the stairs, followed by Lancelot, Noah and Ronove. They'd obviously been waiting for her.

"Look, Jordan, I don't insist on formality like some princes do but I must draw the line at 'Blondie'." The knight gave the Phantom Thief a disgruntled look but the red head just grinned back at him so he gave up. "I'm glad to see you found Fiona first, Roy, I would have felt terrible if you were still running around the castle looking for her." Lancelot gave the lesser demon a smile that the princess wouldn't have thought possible just one short day ago.

"Don't touch the gates. There's some sort of magical trap on the bars." Ronove warned the pair as he approached them. "We haven't tried to disarm it yet as Astaroth will probably come running as soon as he senses us tampering with it."

"We only have one shot at this. We have to get this gate open on the first try or it's all over, and we'll have to fight Astaroth head on." Noah looked uncharacteristically serious, but that only lasted for a moment before he beamed at Fiona. "Good thing we've got three magic users and a Grand Mage on our team." All the guys went over to the gate and stood in a semi-circle around it as they discussed the best way to approach disarming the trap, Roy being able to make himself understood with Jordan's help and Noah's perception.

Lancelot didn't really have much he could contribute to the debate, his experience in magic was limited to the sealing of demons. It was then he noticed that Fiona was on her hands and knees, drawing a line in chalk across the entrance hall in front of the stairs. The other four saw him staring and turned around as well.

"Oh, don't mind me!" Fiona called cheerfully to them when she realised they were all watching her. "I'm just preparing my barrier spell for if Astaroth shows up." She held up the orange stick, protecting her fingers with the cloth.

"I know that spell! So that's what you needed the potash for, pretty much nothing can destroy that barrier once it's up. Nice one, Fiona, I'm impressed!" Noah praised her with a laugh. "We'll leave you to it... Lancelot, Ronove has a decent idea but we're gonna need one of your warding crystals." The five of them continued conferring about the trap while the princess concentrated on drawing on the floor. The lines had to be completely unbroken, otherwise there'd be gaps in the forcefield.

Fiona finished what she needed to do and got to her feet, she rewrapped her enchanted chalk and put it away safely. She could hear Jordan's excited voice, it seemed they'd come up with a decent plan for the gate. But she suddenly felt a cold presence behind her and whirled around.

"Astaroth!" Fiona exclaimed in anger. The Azure Demon was standing at the top of the double staircase, Levi stood next to him. Just like the beloved parents they'd stolen from her so long ago. Before anyone could move, she spoke a single word. "Satis." In an instant an iridescent but see-through wall appeared between the princess and the stairway.

"Fiona?" She heard Lancelot's voice from behind her and he sounded confused, the woman knew why even before she turned around. Unbeknownst to her friends, Fiona had drawn TWO lines across the floor. She was now trapped in the centre of the hall, completely separated from both groups by barriers spanning the entire width of the room.

"Forgive me, I didn't intend for things to happen this way. I tried to keep away from you all because I didn't want to put you through this and I knew you'd try and stop me." Fiona walked towards the five men, speaking sadly. "The truth is that from the start, my 'escape' plan never involved me walking out of this castle alive." They all looked at her in bewilderment before the implication behind her words started to sink in.

Roy began pounding on the invisible wall with both hands, his lips mouthing 'No!' over and over again. Lancelot drew Arondight and took a mighty swing at the barrier but the Holy Sword hadn't replenished its power from breaking through the forcefield around the castle two days earlier. Ronove kept glancing between Astaroth and the human, his face flicking between hatred and horror.

"Please, Fiona, no. Don't do this to me. Not now that I'm..." Jordan's legs had given out from under him and he sank slowly to the floor as he pleaded with her, his voice fading in to a tiny whisper. Noah had placed his hand on the wall in front of him with a heartbroken look on his face as he stared at her in silence.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Astaroth's voice made the princess turn back around to face him. He had descended the stairs and was now stood in front of her barrier. "This thing might keep out physical objects and offensive magic, but it doesn't stop mental magic. I will just use a mind control spell on you again and make you say the deactivation word."

"By all means, go ahead and give it a try." Fiona gave him a smile without warmth, and an amused huff escaped from her lips when she saw the demon's eyes widen at realising he couldn't get near her with his powers. The princess lifted her necklace with one hand. "I forgot nothing. I decided to turn this unwelcome gift in to something of more use. You can't touch me. Today's the day I reclaim control of my own destiny."

"I've had enough of your selfishness!" Levi shouted in indignation from her position next to her master, unable to keep quiet a moment longer. "You should be grateful to Lord Astaroth for allowing you to live by his side for so long." Fiona let out a bitter and joyless laugh.

"Oh yes! I'm so very grateful to him for destroying my kingdom and killing everyone I've ever known and loved. It was incredibly generous of him to keep me alive with the knowledge that I couldn't stop him and that their deaths were all my fault!" The princess's voice wobbled as she let this torrent of pent up resentment and guilt pour forth.

"Your emotions and grief still torment you so?" Astaroth asked her with a small sigh, looking at the woman with pity. "That's part of the reason I gave you that pendant in the first place, to release you from such troublesome thoughts." Fiona threw her sack down in rage, the water bottle inside shattering with a crash.

"Just because I couldn't act on my emotions doesn't mean I didn't still feel them! One. *Thousand*. Years of remorse and regret, Astaroth!" The princess trembled from the hatred she felt for this man. "You didn't spare me, you just trapped me in a living nightmare that I could never escape from… But no more…" Fiona took the cinquedea from her belt, holding it in her hand.

"Lancelot, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You attacking me shattered this horrible pendant." She couldn't turn around; she didn't want to see the anguish in their faces. "You gave me back my freedom. Freedom to choose my own fate."

"This isn't freedom, Fiona, please don't do this! I beg of you!" The prince shouted at her from outside the barrier. Both of Roy's hands were bleeding from thumping on the forcefield but he carried on doing so, not even feeling the pain. The princess looked down at the sword in her hand, drawing on her courage.

"Wait. If I promise to let all these men go free, will you stop this madness?" There was an unfamiliar edge to his voice and Fiona was sure that she'd never seen that desperate look in Astaroth's eyes before. _'Looks like the tables have finally turned. I'm the one causing him pain for once.'_

"And have you break that promise as soon as I'm safely back in your clutches, like you always do?" Fiona shook her head; she'd fallen for that trick one too many times. "I'm just so sick and tired of it all. Everyone who meets me ends up wanting to rescue me. Then they get hurt or killed. I don't want that anymore, I'm done. If… if I die then there will be no one left to save. You'll go back to the Underworld and I'll finally be at peace." The woman raised her sword high above her head, both hands on the hilt. There was a cacophony of shouts behind her, begging her to stop.

"I'll free you!" The Azure Demon bellowed; he was right up against the barrier with both hands pressing against it. "I'd rather free you and you be alive somewhere than watch you die before my eyes." That outburst made Fiona freeze and her resolve wavered, she had chosen this path because she believed that she had no realistic alternatives available.

"I… I just can't trust a word that you say to me." Before anyone could blink, the woman buried the cinquedea into her abdomen right up to the handguard. Fiona groaned involuntarily as she pulled the blade back out again, sinking to the floor as blood rushed out of her.

With a wound that deep, death came swiftly. The two walls of the magical barrier had already started flickering as Fiona's heartbeat slowed, when it stopped completely the forcefield disappeared in an instant.

Roy was the first to get to the princess's body, he held out his bloodied hands and desperately summoned his orbs. Fresh tears washed down his face as he realised it was hopeless, even without the anti-magic talisman, he couldn't heal the dead.

"YOU!" The lesser demon turned to the Demon King, his normally gentle eyes burning with intense loathing. "Lady Fiona… gone… I'll never… forgive!" Roy lunged towards Astaroth but two strong arms wrapped around his chest, holding him back with urgency.

"No, Roy! I understand how you feel but what is attacking him going to accomplish?! It's not going to bring her back to us!" Lancelot's noble face was creased in grief as he used all his strength to stop the mage from rushing to his doom. Jordan was kneeling next to Fiona, cradling her lifeless hand in both of his as he wept openly.

"I wish I'd told you this before… but from the first time I met you, I knew I couldn't leave you here. I was planning to save you but Astaroth knocked me aside as if I was nothing more than an insect to be stepped on. That's how I got injured that time." The red head whispered his confession as he brought the princess's hand to his lips, kissing it before pressing it against his cheek.

Ronove was stood silently behind the Phantom Thief, after Astaroth's betrayal he'd kept a distance from everyone so he'd never have to feel that kind of pain again. But it was to no avail, the sorrow he was currently feeling was threatening to suffocate him. This woman had had everything taken from her just like he had, but unlike him, she was still able to be kind to people. She'd had a strength of character that he never did.

"Astaroth… did you mean what you said before? About freeing her?" Noah had been sitting mutely next to Fiona's body with his head bowed, seemingly in prayer. But now he looked up and was staring at the Azure Demon who had been frozen in disbelief from the moment the princess had stabbed herself. He finally came back to reality and looked to the Grand Mage. "I can help her. But I'm not going to do it if you are going to keep her as a prisoner and just cause her more misery."

"How can you help her, huh?" Levi's tear choked voice spoke up from Astaroth's side. "There's no magic in the world that can bring back the dead, even if she didn't have a way to repel our spells." Noah carefully took Fiona's body into his arms and got to his feet. Gone was his beaming grin, replaced with a quiet and serious dignity.

"I don't propose to use magic, I have a higher power in mind... My full name is Quorial Noah Cherange, I'm willing to break one of the commandments of Heaven and bring Fiona back if you can satisfy me that she will be allowed to live out her life in complete freedom." His noble voice rang through the large hall as everyone stared at him in astonishment. None of them had thought for one second that one of the Three Pillars of Divinity was walking among them.

"Holy Emperor Quorial… I meant what I said. I want Fiona to be alive, even if she refuses to be at my side." Gone was Astaroth's air of superiority, he was now looking at Noah as his equal. "The only assurance I can give you of that is my word."

"Like that's worth anything, Azure Demon!" Lancelot spat out in disgust. "How many times did you break your promises to Fiona? It'll take a lot more than your word before I'll believe you."

"He could make a Demon's Covenant… It's a powerful blood pact made between members of the demonic aristocracy, if the maker ever breaks their oath then it would mean their instant destruction." Ronove suggested as he walked towards Astaroth. He drew his sword and sliced open his palm and held his hand out. "Do you swear to release Princess Fiona Fortuna from her endless captivity and vow to never again imprison her against her will?"

Roy held his breath as he watched Astaroth stare at Ronove's bleeding hand, a beat passed, then two. Suddenly he drew his sword and cut his own hand before grabbing his former friend in a firm handshake.

"By my blood, I swear it will be so." As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a flash of purple that filled the room along with a sharp metallic noise. The Demon King released Ronove's hand and looked over to Noah. "It is done. Holy Emperor, I trust that you are satisfied?" The divine being nodded solemnly.

"Yes, leave the rest to me." He closed his eyes and specks of white light began to gather all around him. "Pure light to me… I am the light… Life is with me... May the veil of eternal slumber be lifted from her face." Noah's voice echoed strangely, as if it was coming from all directions at once. The floating motes of light multiplied and their brightness intensified until Jordan was forced to close his eyes against it.

Fiona's eyelids flickered as she woke up, her body felt heavy and her mind was foggy like she'd been in a deep sleep. As her senses began to focus, she realised she was being held aloft in somebody's arms. The princess opened her eyes in shock and saw Noah's face looking down at her. He was smiling but his oddly coloured red eyes were shining.

"Welcome back, Fiona, you have no idea how much we missed you." The Grand Mage's voice was heavy with relief. The princess stiffened as the prior events came back to her. She used her hands to check her abdomen but there was nothing there, not even a scratch. At the realisation that her plan had failed, Fiona let out a scream of frustration and despair, the intensity of which making Lancelot flinch in response.

"Why did you bring me back?! This was the only way I could escape!" The woman's voice was full of anger and betrayal as she glared at Noah. The mage gently placed her back on her feet and she found herself immediately in Roy's warm embrace.

"Lady Fiona… I…" The lesser demon was crying too hard to get any more words out and Fiona could feel the arms around her were shaking with emotion. Over Roy's shoulder she could see Jordan, he was covered in blood from where he'd been kneeling next to her body. The Phantom Thief's eyes were red and puffy but he managed to give her a watery smile.

"I believe that Astaroth has something to say to you." At Ronove's voice, Roy reluctantly let Fiona go but kept a tight hold of her hand. Levi had just finished healing both demons' cut palms with her magic. The Azure Demon looked to the princess but Lancelot's glare stopped him from approaching her.

"Quorial, the God of Life, brought you back because I promised to release you. You are no longer bound to me." Astaroth's voice sounded strangely pained as he raised his hand. "The barrier has been lifted and the trap on the gates is gone. You may leave this castle and live your life how you see fit. Ronove, Levi and I will return to the Underworld."

Fiona stared at him completely dumbfounded, she had never dared hope that she'd regain her freedom with his consent. She looked to Noah in disbelief but the divine being just gave her a reassuring smile and nodded.

"This… this isn't some cruel trick, right? I can truly get out of here?" The princess looked at everyone's face, this situation honestly felt too good to be true. She didn't want to believe it then have her heart broken once again. Roy tugged on her hand insistently and he led her over to the gates. He touched the bars gingerly to test them but nothing happened.

"Go on, open them." Jordan's voice came from just behind Fiona. She took a deep breath before she pushed the grate and it swung open with ease. The woman squinted against the bright sunshine as she took her first steps outside the castle in over a millennium. When she got to the base of the castle steps, she turned around and looked up at the place of her imprisonment.

"So, where do you want to go first, Princess Fiona?" Lancelot asked. He watched a smile spread across the woman's face from ear to ear at hearing that question. "If you have nowhere particular in mind, might I extend an invitation for you all to visit Mohne?" The knight looked at Jordan and Roy so they knew that he was speaking to them too. Noah had followed them down the steps and nodded with approval.

"That sounds like a brilliant place to start! …Whoops! We can't have you going anywhere looking like that though." He opened his manuscript and mumbled a chant. There was a flash of white light and everyone's clothes suddenly looked like new with all traces of blood removed. "Making a good first impression is always important."

"Thank you so much, N- um, I mean Quorial." Fiona stammered, suddenly feeling awkward at realising she was talking to a god. Noah visibly grimaced at her using that name and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Please, my friends call me Noah… that's what I want you to call me. I'd also appreciate it if you tried to treat me the same way as you did before. You won't be needing this thing anymore either." The Grand Mage reached out a hand and pulled her pendant off with ease. "I can't come with you right now. I need to go back to Heaven and explain my actions to the other gods. Once I explain it all, I'm sure they'll understand. My big sister might give me a bit more bother but I know she'll secretly approve of what I've done." The carrot-top laughed but stopped when Roy grabbed a hold of his sleeve and tugged at it.

"Noah… be careful." The demon was looking at him with concerned eyes. He didn't want Noah to get into trouble for breaking one of the divine commandments. The Grand Mage gave him a reassuring smile and clapped Roy on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. The worst I'll probably get is a stern lecture. We'll meet again, I'm sure of it. I don't intend to stop exploring interesting places any time soon so our paths will definitely cross again." Roy finally released Noah's sleeve with a smile, his concerns allayed. The god opened his magic book, intending to cast a teleportation spell when Fiona ran forwards and hugged him, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Noah, for everything." The princess spoke with sincerity. Lancelot and Jordan both gave the Grand Mage a deep bow each and Roy copied them half a moment later. Noah flushed a bright red at the show of gratitude as Fiona stepped out of the way so he could finish his spell. "You'd better come and see me again soon, alright?" He gave her a grin with a nod, and with a flash of light, he was gone.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to get going. Mohne, was it? Lead the way, Blondie!" Jordan declared with a grin while Lancelot was looking like he was considering hitting him. "Your arm, milady?" The Phantom Thief turned to Fiona with a small bow and she did a small curtsey in return with a laugh. The princess took his arm and the four of them set off, leaving the crumbling Fortuna castle behind.

FIN


End file.
